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THE 



ORATION 



BEFORE THE 



AMERICAN INSTITUTE, 



BV 



PROF. C' M A S O N. 



SECOND EDITION. 




NEW-YORK: 
D. APPLETON & CO., 200 BROADWAY, 
1840. 



THE 



ORATION 



THIRTEENTH ANNIVERSARY 



AMERICAN INSTITUTE, 



DELIVERED BY 



CYRUS MASON, 



THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE, 



October 15tli, 1840. 



SECOND EDITION. 




7 

NEW-YORK: 

D. APPLETON & CO., 200 BROADWAY. 

1840. 






Hopkins & Jennings, Printers, 
111 Fulton-street. 



Niblo's Garden, October 16th, 1840. 

Professor C. Mason, 
Dear Sir : 

The Managers of the 13th Annual Fair feel that you have 
conferred great honour on the American Institute by your very 
pertinent and able Oration, delivered at the Tabernacle, last 
evening, and they respectfully request a copy for publication. 
Your obedient servant, 

T. B. WAKEMAN, 

Chairman. 



University, October 16th, 1840. 

T. B. Wakeman, Esq. 

Chairman of Managers of the 13th Annual Fair of the American Institute, 

Dear Sir : 

Your note, requesting a copy of the Oration delivered by 
me last evening, is received. I shall defer to the judgement of 
the Managers, and comply with their request. But I am well 
aware, that the kindness of a popular assembly, on a public 
occasion, may have deceived you as to the value of a produc- 
tion, which was prepared without leisure, and adapted to the 
audience and the occasion rather than to the press. 
With great respect for the Managers, 

I am very truly yours, 

C. MASON. 



Mr. President, 

AND Gentlemen op the Institute : 

This is the appropriate festival of the working-men 
of our country. The fruits of genius and industry 
are brought up in perfection and abundance from the 
field, the garden, and the work-shop. Your Fair is 
a national school for the mutual instruction of the inge- 
nious and laborious classes, the true conservators of 
society. Each labourer comes to submit his work for 
the common welfare, and to profit by observing the pro- 
ductions of others. And, while each is seeking the ad- 
vancement of his own art, all are contributing to the 
common fund of human happiness. 

At your call, I come, with alacrity, to offer my appro- 
priate contribution to the service in which you are en- 
gaged. I claim here a place and a strict relation for 
that class of men, who labour in the field of science and 
letters, and devote their days to the work of public in- 
struction. I deprecate, as unfounded and injurious, the 
opinion, that the most mature education given in our 
college halls is an unsuitable preparation for the pursuits 
of agriculture, commerce, or mechanics. And if, in 
former days, the notion was cherished in collegiate life, 
that labour is disreputable to the learned, I here offer 
the pledge of my associates, that no such heresy is prop- 
agated by us : and our pupils, in the counting-houses, 
offices, and work-shops of the city, are our witnesses. 
I therefore feel myself at home in this place, on this oc- 
casion. 



To you, gentlemen of the Institute, I offer congratula- 
tions, rather than praise. If your talents and your po- 
sition in society have made you the founders and sup- 
porters of this institution, I am sure your modesty will 
prefer to join in the common sentiments of exultation 
and gratitude, which inspire the prosperous multitude 
of citizens, who rejoice together in the results of their 
and your labours. And if I should attempt the indeli- 
cate task of praising you to your faces, I should but 
faintly and imperfectly echo the voice, which your works 
have long proclaimed through the length and breadth of 
the land. 

When the kings and feudal lords of other lands find 
it politic to come forth and speak of the interests of their 
subjects, they tell what they are doing or devising for 
the prosperity of their people ; but, it is your felicity, 
fellow citizens, to consider and observe what the people 
are doing for themselves. In the exhibition, which is 
now closing, we have seen what the people are doing 
for themselves. And, in an enlightened view of the cir- 
cumstances, in which the people of this country are doing 
for themselves, it is manifest, that nothing but treachery 
to their own dearest rights and highest interests can re- 
tard their onward and upward progress to the glory and 
happiness cherished in the hopes of their patriot fathers. 
On a great public occasion, it is fit, that we remind 
ourselves of those advantages, which are rather provi- 
dential than of our own procuring ; those, which are 
public, rather than private ; those which grew out of 
our ancestry, our institutions, our climate, and our re- 
lations to the older nations of the earth. For, in the 
eager pursuit of private and personal objects, we are li- 
able to overlook and disregard our public benefits. In 
long continued peace, patriotism is liable to sink down 



into the selfishness and bigotry of party politics ; liberty 
is liable to be undervalued and bartered for local inter- 
est and corporate power or wealth ; and gratitude to a 
beneficent Providence is liable to be displaced by a vain 
and misleading self-sufficiency. Could patriotism be 
kept pure and glowing in the public mind without being 
rekindled on the battle-field, then would our institutions 
be perpetual ; for true patriotism is next of kin to na- 
tional piety ; and both are guardians of civil liberty. 

To a large extent, individuals and communities are 
made by the circumstances in which they are placed. 
Napoleon was ruined by supposing himself an exception 
to this rule. Intoxicated with the vanity of success, he 
imagined himself the heir of a peculiar destiny, and the 
privileged framer of his own fortunes. Had he been 
duly observant of the natural tide in the aflfairs of men, 
he might have closed his life among the splendours of 
the French Empire, instead of lingering out his days in 
dreary and hateful exile. When the first lawyer at the 
English bar was asked what was the highest prerequi- 
site to legal eminence, he replied, " a shilling to begin 
with." The life of Franklin is illustrated by the same 
remark; and so is the history of the New-England 
race. The American character is e^minently the result 
of the circumstances in which the people of the United 
States have been placed. 

First of all, we are indebted to our Ances- 
try. 

We are descended from the Anglo-Saxons and the 
Normans ; the most free, constant, and enterprising 
race of men on the face of the earth. We inherit their 
sobriety, their patience, and their indomitable love of 
home, of country, and of freedom. Our relation to such 



fathers, has been one cause of that prosperity which 
has ever distinguished these states from all the colonies 
around us. It was the very spirit of our ancestors with- 
in us, which impelled us to set up for ourselves when 
we came of age. The dread of being shamed by such 
ancestors, has kept us on our good behaviour ; now 
they begin to be proud of us, as we shall never cease to 
be proud of them. A dignified ancestry is the inherit- 
ance of many following generations. Let us never dis- 
own or dishonour that inheritance of English sobriety 
and good sense, which is one pledge of our success in 
the experiment we are making of enlarged civil lib- 
erty. 

We are also indebted to our Climate. 

Our latitude determines the temperature of our cli- 
mate, and the length of our winter ; but the same de- 
gree of latitude, gives in Europe a warmer climate than 
ours. If you take the latitude of Quebec on the north 
and Charleston on the south, and regarding these as 
hues of climate, extend them round the earth, you will 
enclose that portion of the globe on which nearly all 
high civilization of mankind has occurred. If Egypt 
and Arabia were for a time exceptions to this rule, we 
must remember that Cleopatra yielded to the Csesars, 
and the crescent became fixed at Constantinople ; and 
Egypt and Arabia have long been semi-barbarous coun- 
tries. 

In our climate, the earth yields us almost nothing 
without culture; yet is capable of yielding almost every 
thing we can desire. To the diligent and skilful culti- 
vator, our soil yields a superfluous abundance. " He 
that tilleth his land, shall have plenty of bread ; but he 
that will not plough by reason of the cold, shall beg in 



harvest, and shall have nothing." Poverty pursues 
the indolent, (even in summer,) with the constant step 
of a traveller ; and in winter, it falls upon him like an 
armed man. 

To enjoy life in our climate, we must be expensively 
housed, clothed, and fed ; and a long winter must be pro- 
vided for. But the labour to which we are impelled for 
the attainment of these things, is our great blessing. 
For the habit of industry leads us to develope the re- 
sources of the earth, to cultivate the arts which adorn 
society, ameliorate the sorrows of life, and subdue the 
ruggedness of the human heart. Habitual industry is 
the necessary instrument of a high civilization in a com- 
munity of free men. 

Did the soil yield a spontaneous supply for our wants, 
as in the equatorial regions of the earth, it would be a 
sure source of degradation. Where the people can 
have " fullness of bread, with abundance of idleness," 
there will be found the vices of Sodom, and the dishon- 
our of the human race. On the Gold Coast of Africa, 
the shade-tree is their house, and their chief toil is to 
gather perennial fruit. There, a man may be subsisted 
for six dollars a year ; there, gold enough may be wash- 
ed in an hour, to provide for the wants of a month ; yet 
there, man is a poor, base barbarian — opposed to all im- 
provement, and but little exalted above his rivals, the 
apes and monkeys. An English trader carried to the 
Gold Coast, a machine for washing gold with great fa- 
cility, but he destroyed the machine to save his life 
from the violence of the people for whom he made 
it. There, the predominant notion of dignity is idle- 
ness. 

An American gentleman asked a native king what was 
the African tradition of the origin of the different races 

2 



10 

of man. The king replied, " that at first God made all 
black men ; but finding that the world would come to 
naught by reason of laziness, he afterward made some 
white men to drive the black men to work." 

Now this tradition was doubtless invented to excuse 
slavery ; but the facts of which it is made up, are not 
the less pertinent to illustrate our position. 

On the coast of Brazil, where our citizens manufac- 
ture the Indian rubber, the natives and the Portuguese 
cannot be induced to labour beyond the poor supply of 
their daily wants ; and hay is shipped to that coast from 
the port of New-York, to stuflf the shoes, because the 
people will not cut the grass of Brazil and prepare it 
for the purpose. 

The more carefully we consider the influence of cli- 
mate on the character and destiny of a people, the more 
shall we find cause to say " the lines are fallen to us in 
pleasant places." Our climate and our ancestry pre- 
pared the way for 

The institutions under which we live, and to 
which we are deeply indebted. 

Whoever has studied the Madison papers, — the 
Journal of the Convention, which formed the Federal 
Constitution, — will feel the force of the last remark. He 
will acknowledge that the spirit of freedom in the people, 
seeking a protection for their industry, led the conven- 
tion to form, and the States to adopt, the American con- 
stitution. 

The soldiers and statesmen of that period, sought not 
for titles of nobility, or for any but a purchased and 
alienable right in the soil of our country. No grants 
were made of special privileges for any pursuit, except 
to those who gave to the pubhc some equivalent, Ev- 



11 

ery employment, and every place, was thrown open ; 
and any man who pleased, might aspire to fortune, fame, 
or office. From that time onward there has been a ten- 
dency in our country to enlarge, rather than to restrain, 
the application of the Democratic principle to our insti- 
tutions of national and state government. Every man 
who has health may be a freeholder if he will. Every 
man may use his time, his talents, or his earnings, ac- 
cording to his own choice. The whole tendency of so- 
ciety is toward an equality of fortune. No wealth is 
hereditary. No fortune can remain long undivided. A 
fortune, independent or safe in the hands of an idle 
man, is a thing unknown. The wages of labour are 
high, and must be so just in proportion as the labourer 
has liberty and opportunity to set up for himself. La- 
bour is the universal source of prosperity ; all may have 
occasion to labour ; and therefore every sort of honest 
industry is honourable. And hence it follows that all 
but shameless beggars, (a class not of native growth,) 
feel a powerful motive to attempt the improvement of 
their condition. 

The hberty we enjoy is a priceless blessing. It con- 
sists not merely in the elective franchise, but also in 
our freedom from the trammels, which restrain the in- 
dustry and enterprise of other and older nations. We 
have no remnants of feudal lordship. We have no 
nobility or throne to support. We choose the men 
who make our laws, and the magistrates who execute 
them ; and if they disobey the will of the people, they 
are sure to be displaced. Our security in the enjoy- 
ment of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, is so 
complete that we scarcely think of the possibility of a 
different state. And the whole working of our social 
system seems most perfectly adapted to illustrate the 



12 

utmost extent to which the prosperity of a whole peo- 
ple is capable of being carried by themselves. ^ 

We are also favoured by our neah neighbour- 
hood TO THE OLDER AND LESS FREE NATIONS OF EU- 
ROPE. 

It is true that our people have a natural and strong 
tendency to pursue what is immediately useful. We 
value science chiefly for its application to the arts of 
life. We study those things, which we can appropri- 
ate to increase our enjoyments, or our wealth. Our 
people are utilitarians, and not at all ashamed of the 
epithet. As a young people we are mostly occupied in 
planting and building ; and so we must be occupied for 
a lono; time to come. 

In this view of our character and condition, the foreign 
journals have tauntingly asked, " what has America ever 
done for mankind ?" I answer : We have done what 
our mother country would not let us do without a fam- 
ily quarrel. We have made a country and a home for 
ourselves, and for the poor and oppressed of Europe. 
We have protected our industry by a prudent inter- 
course with other nations ; we have covered our com- 
merce with a flag, which the world has learned to re- 
spect ; we have proved for fifty years, that we can do 
without the oppressive machinery of regal government 
and standing armies; we have done quite as much as 
our neighbours can have wished in the way of free gov- 
ernment ; and we have extended the blessings of a plain, 
but substantial education to the great mass of the popula- 
tion. But we have done more. All the honours of steam 
navigation and cotton culture are ours. Without arro- 
gance therefore, we may say, we have bridged the ocean. 
We have appropriated the science, the arts, and the liter- 



13 

ature of Europe, to the best uses of mankind. Within 
three weeks of its first appearance, every discovery 
in science, every invention of art, and every production 
of hterature in Europe becomes our own. Da Guerre, 
in his fourteen years of experiments on hght, and Her- 
schell in his ceaseless observation of the Heavens, and 
Cuvier in his survey of all animal nature, laboured eve- 
ry hour for us. Our easy access to the ripe fruits of 
European science and letters, gives us amazing advan- 
tage in developing the resources, and perfecting the in- 
stitutions of our own country, by the invention and ap- 
plication of machines in every department of industry. 
We acknowledge our obligation, but claim to have made 
large returns. The cotton gin alone has paid the 
debt. 

These are some of the circumstantial advantages we 
enjoy for the working out of that problem of patriotism 
and philanthropy, the greatest good of the greatest 
number of the people. 

For half a century we have been growing up in the 
use of these and other advantages. Could Franklin re- 
turn and survey the face of his country, his largest hopes 
respecting the progress of that country would be exceed- 
ed. A walk through the printing-house of one of our 
daily papers would furnish him matter for days of de- 
lighted reflection. He would find with astonishment 
that a day-labourer cannot now afford to make a jour- 
ney on foot. Could he visit your Fair and observe the 
wonderful results of those very lessons which his ex- 
ample and writings impressed on the character of his 
countrymen ; could he see what ingenuity and indus- 
try have accomplished — he would feel that he had not 
lived in vain. He would enjoy a higher satisfaction 
than when he concluded the treaty of peace with Great 



14 

Britain, or when he saw the last name signed to the 
Federal Constitution. 

To take even a passing notice of the various improve- 
ments of the present century in agriculture, commerce, 
and the mechanic arts, would require me to repeat some 
paragraph from almost every newspaper of forty years, 
along with the entire contents of some fifty periodical 
journals during the whole period of their publication. 
The records of these improvements would fill a library ; 
and this library you have all been accustomed to read. 
But I propose to show, 

That while these improvements have meliora- 
ted THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF SOCIETY, THEY ALSO 
TEND TO ELEVATE THE INTELLECTUAL AND SOCIAL CHA- 
RACTER OF THE PEOPLE, AND ARE FAVOURABLE TO THEIR 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS IMPROVEMENT. 

The physical condition of society, in our climate, is 
improved by every change which diminishes the labour 
and expense of cultivating, manufacturing, and exchang- 
ing the resources of the country. For experience proves, 
that where labour is reputable, the diminution of the 
amount required for any given result does not lead to 
indolence, but rather induces a man to enlarge his en- 
terprise, by seeking to increase the number of his enjoy- 
ments. The amelioration takes place so gradually, that 
men in general scarcely observe how great it is, unless 
they compare the present time with their recollection 
of former years, or with the history of past ages. 

Since the discovery and settlement of this island, the 
insurance between Hamburgh and Lisbon was more 
than fifty per cent, on the value of ship and cargo ; and 
now the insurance across the Atlantic is so small an 
item as to be scarcely regarded in estimating the profits 



15 

of a voyage. And this great diminution results entirely 
from the improvements in ship-building and navigation. 
The improvements in the growing and manufacture of 
w^ool and cotton have reduced, by more than one-half, 
the entire expense of necessary clothing. These im- 
provements are now increasing at a faster rate than at 
any former period. The " grain-reaper," which is now 
just entering the harvest field, will relieve the farmer at 
the most arduous and costly period of the year. The 
improvements in the consumption of fuel have produced 
a change equally great ; and I have no doubt, that still 
further changes for the better are to be made on this 
subject. The house, which fifteen years ago consumed 
two hundred and fifty dollars worth of fuel in a year, 
can now be better served for one hundred. And yet, 
more than half the fuel now consumed in this city, serves 
only to warm the atmosphere above the tops of our 
houses. 

I mention these few examples, but assure myself that 
very few in this assembly can need argument to prove 
how greatly the physical condition of all industrious 
people has been improved since the adoption of the 
Federal Constitution. And I pass to the 

First topic of my subject, that these improve- 
ments TEND to elevate THE INTELLECTUAL AND 
SOCIAL CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE, 

This topic concerns us as patriots and lovers of our 
families ; for the intellectual character of a people is 
one measure of their greatness ; and their social cha- 
racter is the material of their happiness. 

The intellectual character of a people is formed by 
the magnitude and number of the objects which engage 
their attention ; and the facility they have for gaining 



16 

a thorough knowledge of these objects. Now it is the 
tendency of all our improvements to take the hardest 
and most irksome part of our labour, and commit it to 
machines, which are moved by steam, or some other 
purely physical agent. Steam power blows the bel- 
lows, lifts the hammer, turns the lathe, and even guides 
the chisel of the worker in iron, brass, and silver. This 
gives the mechanic time to study the nature of metals, 
and the endless variety of uses to which they may be 
applied for the comfort or amusement of mankind. In 
this study he is led to some acquaintance with kindred 
arts. These arts lead him back to the principles of 
science involved in them ; and make him a reader of 
the lives of the inventors of these arts, and of the his- 
tory of the ages and countries in which they were in- 
vented and cherished. Hence, you may hear our black- 
smith talk discreetly of the choice of ornaments, which 
may be taken from the details of Grecian or Gothic 
architecture to adorn that unsightly black hole in the 
parlor wall in which our fathers wasted their fuel, and 
which has now become a household ornament; while 
the economy of fuel enables us to pay for this ornament 
without encroaching on the claims of any comfort of 
life. 

Steam power does the hardest drudgery of our buil- 
ders. The sawing, and planing, and boring, and pol- 
ishing, are transferred to machines ; while the mechanic 
has time to study architecture in all its parts. And 
hence it has come to pass, that with the same labour 
and materials we get houses more commodious, better 
adapted for the economy of house-keeping, and also 
fitted to cultivate our taste for what is beautiful. 

Some of us can remember the harsh sounds of the 
wool-cards and the flax-hatchel in the hands of our 



mothers. What filthy and painful toil was in almost 
every process of the handy- work of making our clothes. 
And now the drudgery is nearly all handed over to ma- 
chines, while the intellectual part employs every branch 
of modern science and art. In a great cloth or print 
manufactory the whole circle of sciences taught in the 
University are brought into use. All that the Uni- 
versity can teach, chemistry, mechanics, hydraulics, 
light, colours, and the arts of designing and engraving, 
are in constant requisition ; and the success of the es- 
tablishment depends on the skill with which these 
sciences and arts are applied to the growing fabrics. 
Distant countries are visited to bring home an improve- 
ment in a loom, a spindle, or a dye. The labourers in 
the factory have their ingenuity stimulated to the ut- 
most to invent some improvement in their machines. 
And these employments are now occupying and ani- 
mating some of the most acute and comprehensive minds 
in our country. 

De Tocqueville has said, that "Agriculture is, per- 
haps, of all the useful arts, that which improves most 
slowly among democratic nations. Frequently, indeed, 
it would seem to be stationary, because other arts are 
making rapid strides toward perfection. On the other 
hand, almost all the tastes and habits which the equality 
of conditions engenders, naturally lead men to commer- 
cial and industrial occupations," 

Now there is some truth in this remark, as there is 
in many of this author's views, which a theory has led 
him to state too strongly. But suppose it to be true ; 
yet, I think it can be shown, that the improvements of 
which we are discoursing have a powerful tendency to 
elevate the intellectual and social character of the ag- 



18 

ricultural class of society in our country. And if it is 
true of this class, it must be true of all the others. 

Increased facilities for commerce or manufactures 
turn indirectly to the advantage of the farmer and his 
family. But improvemcjnts in husbandry and domestic 
operations go directly to favour the better education of 
the farmers' sons and daughters. Every step gained in 
this direction draws out more candidates for the Acad- 
emy, and rears the men who become distinguished in 
political, commercial, and mechanical pursuits. The 
great men of our country come up habitually from the 
farming; class. And the intellectual elevation of the 
youth of this class depends on the measure of time they 
can give to reading and study, and the access they have 
to books, maps, and scientific instruments. 

On a farm of one to two hundred acres, a certain 
amount of labour must be done by the owner and his 
family, or they cannot meet the necessary expenses of 
a comfortable maintenance. The main chance must 
be minded by themselves. At certain periods of the 
year every boy that can spread hay, or carry a sheaf, 
or rake after a cart, must work. All the boys, who can 
hoe half a row, must work most of the summer. The 
work must be all done ; and then the boys may go to 
school. 

Whoever was a farmer's boy thirty years ago, sees 
now a vast change in favour of leisure for education, 
and the facilities for gaining knowledge. At that time, 
the hard, delving toil on the farm seemed to have no 
end. If there came a rainy day, there was no rest from 
toil ; the clumsy tools of husbandry were to be mended 
or ground ; the threshing flail, and hand-fan were to be 
swung, till our eyes were filled with dust, and our hands 
ready to drop ; the younger boys were shelling corn on 



19 

the handle of a frying-pan ; and the youngest of all was 
turning the quill-wheel, or picking wool, or tugging at 
the churn-handle. At the approach of winter we hoped 
to get to school ; but the hope was long deferred. The 
fair days were required to cut and bring home vast 
quantities of fuel ; and a boy could drive the team. 
And when this was done, then came the horrid work of 
dressing flax. Many boys have a dreary remembrance 
of that vile employment; and would have kissed the 
hand of the man who would have ground up the last 
flaxseed on the earth. 

But now, every one of these labours has been turned 
over to machines, which have reduced the work of 
months to a few days. Flax is scarcely cultivated. A 
few cords of wood supply the farm-house. The tools 
of husbandry have been perfected. Half the labour of 
the farm is superseded ; and three-fourths of that which 
used to be laid on the boys, is no longer required. 
Horticulture has found favour with the farmers. Fruit 
trees and flowers surround almost every rural dwelling. 
The rearing of fine domestic animals, occupies general 
attention. The intellectual part of agriculture has in_ 
creased, just in proportion as toil has been diminished. 
The farmer is becoming a botanist, a geologist, a chem- 
ist. He reads; he corresponds with ingenious men; he 
communicates his experience through the public journ- 
als ; he finds time for occasional journies ; his manners 
are improved ; his taste is refined ; his intellect is ele- 
vated ; and his social character is improved. 

But there has been a still greater improvement in the 
facilities for the attainment of knowledge among the 
children and youth of rural districts in our country. 

The district school library now furnished by the 
Harpers for $20, is worth more for the education of a 



20 

family, than all the books which could be found in some 
towns of this state thirty years ago. 

We then lacked the necessary means for forming a 
taste for intellectual improvement. The boy who learn- 
ed Pike's arithmetic was a distinguished boy ; and Flint's 
surveying, made him a sure candidate for greatness. 
Our diversions were gross, expensive, and dangerous ; 
and youthful indiscretion frequently brought whole 
families to open shame. But the social state has been 
improved almost as much as the physical condition of 
the people ; and this happy change is the result of la- 
bour-saving machines. 

But this topic is not half exhausted ; for if the change 
wrought in favour of the education of boys has been 
great, the change in favour of female education and re- 
finement has been greater. The drudgery of the farmer's 
wife and daughters, has been almost annihilated by the 
cotton and woollen factories, and the improved instru- 
ments of household labour. There has been some alarm 
among men on this subject; but there is nothing to fear. 
The thrifty farmer can well afford the luxury of seeing his 
wife and daughters in their improved condition. Even 
if he labours an extra hour for their sake, he will be all 
the happier for the sacrifice. 

If his household affairs are prudently managed, the 
products of his farm will not be half consumed in pro- 
viding for the bare necessities of his family. When 
these are secured, all the best ends of human life will be 
favoured, by meliorating the condition, promoting the in- 
tellectual culture, and refining the manners and tastes of 
his wife and daughters. No other expenditure is so sure 
to bring home a large return of virtue, dignity, and fair 
renown. For woman is the guardian angel of the so- 
cial state; the presiding goddess of domestic happiness. 



21 

She must be refined, or man cannot be civilized ; to fa- 
cilitate her refinement, is not to make her vain or indo- 
lent. Emancipated from her low drudgery, she turns 
her hand to more delicate, but not less useful employ- 
ments ; such employments are multiplying in number 
and value with every day's improvements. Articles of 
daily consumption and vast amount, now procured from 
Europe, are beginning to be manufactured by the wo- 
men and children of our country. Our straw goods are 
taking the place of the English and Italian. And, pass- 
ing over other objects, we may hereafter expect an ex- 
tensive application of female industry to the culture 
of silk. 

When the fever of speculation has gone by, and the 
laughers at speculation have had their turn, the mulberry 
trees will be found growing in vast numbers all over the 
face of this country. And when there has been time to 
mature their growth, the business will be found attractive 
and profitable. The end of this speculation will resem- 
ble that of the speculation in merino sheep. The fever 
had its course, and the laughers their fun ; but the im- 
proved breed of sheep remains, the public revenue from 
imported fine wool and cloth has been reduced, and a 
rich blessing to our country has been the result. 

To a large and still growing extent, the instruction of 
children is now committed to the gentler sex. And they 
are doing the work with commendable zeal and success. 

And even those young women, who used to go out as 
spinsters, are now able to provide for themselves in a 
better way by working in the factories. I am well in- 
formed of the state and results of this sort of employ- 
ment in New-England ; and have no doubt, that the re- 
sults are friendly to the cause of intelligence and good 
manners. 



22 

It is a known fact, that within thirty years, the mea- 
sure of time appropriated to the education of children, 
in the same district has been more than doubled. The 
advantages arising from better books, maps, globes, and 
other apparatus, have been augmented in an equal de- 
gree. And, while the whole community is better housed, 
fed, and clothed than before, can it be questioned, that 
the intellectual and social character of the people has 
been elevated ? 

Turn your thoughts to the true history of this matter. 
The mind is cultivated by its knowledge of the qualities 
of things, and of the relations which subsist between 
those thin:s. To trace things back to their elements, to 
observe their combinations, mark the changes through 
which they pass, and discover the laws to which they con- 
form — this is the very work of philosophy, the daily busi- 
ness of pure science, as a method of discovery. To ap- 
ply these results of observation and discovery to the 
uses of mankind, in all the ways by which labour can be 
saved and enjoyment increased — this is the business of 
practical science : and the results so applied are but 
other names for all the useful arts of life. Thus you 
see, how closely the inventor in arts is allied to the 
discoverer in pure science. And can you suppose, that 
the mass of the people can be daily employed in the use 
of these inventions, without themselves seeking to inves- 
tigate the causes or laws from which they spring ? Is 
there not in common minds a natural proneness to such 
inquiries, whenever the door to them is opened '! Is 
there not an intellectual pleasure in such inquiries, which 
both animates and rewards the search ? Yes, and the 
leisure, which prosperity brings in its train is improved 
by great numbers of our youth, who love science for 
her own intrinsic beauty, and forego many grat- 



23 

ifications, that they may learn and reveal yet more of 
the secrets of nature. In their intercourse with society 
they diffuse the same spirit ; they impart an intellectual 
tone and taste to the rising generation ; and they en- 
lighten the ingenuity of those, who give themselves to 
the more strictly practical pursuits of invention. 

I grant, that pure science and good letters are culti- 
vated by the favoured few, in foreign universities and 
under royal patronage, beyond what is done in our new 
and republican country. But is it not a higher glory to 
have raised the great mass of the people to a degree of 
intelligence, which- softens their manners, cheers their 
social life, and unfits them for being the mere tools of 
tyrants and food for cannon ? 

The course of discovery and invention in physical 
science has astonished the civilized world during the 
last forty years. Triumphs already gained give inti- 
mation of still greater to be expected. And I live 
in no fear that civilized man will ever recede from the 
ground he has already gained. Science is no longer 
shut up in the cloisters of the few. Philosophers no 
longer, like Archimedes, despise the applications of sci- 
ence to practical purposes. The art of printing has ren- 
dered the best books on all subjects of learning the most 
common books. The learning of the world is spread 
over the world. The causes, which once overwhelmed 
the science of civilized man, cannot operate again in any 
free country ; and the growth of civil liberty is as cer- 
tain as the course of time. The wars which have deso- 
lated the earth are not again to rage with the same ease 
and for the same causes. The melioration of the phy- 
sical condition of the people must ever render it more 
costly and more difficult to raise and support great ar- 
mies. The temperance reform in Ireland has already 



24 

emptied the criminal courts, and jails, and gin-shops, the 
three best places for the enlistment of soldiers. And 
if Ireland is true to herself in the course she has com- 
menced for the education of the common people, her 
redemption is sure. 

Strange as it may seem, there are some men, who 
fear that labour-saving machines will deprive the poor 
of their livelihood. A gentleman of fortune and leisure, 
standing with me at the fair, over a new machine of 
this sort, observed, that " very soon the poor people, 
who arrive in our country will have nothing to do." 
Formerly this apprehension was a. serious obstacle to 
improvements in the arts of life. When the lathe for 
turning gun-stocks was invented, years passed away be- 
fore any manufacturer was found who dared to intro- 
duce it. And I well remember that when Lemuel Pome- 
roy of Pittsfield, the real benefactor of that town, made 
the experiment, he was deemed a cruel enemy of a la- 
bouring class of men. 

But what is the practical effect of all such changes? 
There may be some temporary inconvenience for those 
who have to change their hard toil for a more cleanly 
and intellectual occupation. The new occupation must 
be sought and learned ; but the lasting benefit to all par- 
ties cannot be doubted. When Richard Hoe invented 
a mode of attachinjT the handle of the bellows to the 
engine, which lifts the hammer at each anvil in his vast 
machine-shop, he dispensed with the service of eight 
boys. But the boys are transferred to higher employ- 
ments, and their destiny in life is changed. The hands 
dismissed from the press by the invention of Napier, 
and the use of steam power, became type-setters, proof- 
readers, clerks, editors of newspapers, and authors. In 
short, all the hands released from drudgery by the use 



25 

of *tnachines, if they are not called for in the higher de- 
partments of mechanical, or commercial labour, may- 
find an unfailing resource m the pursuits of agriculture. 
There lies the strength of the people. And there may 
ever be found a sure reward of industry, and the means 
of gradually raising one's condition in life. 

I have said that " the labouring class are the true con- 
servators of society." Beside these there is a limited 
class, who are above the immediate necessity to labour, 
and there is a numerous class, who are below the mo- 
tives and opportunities for profitable labour. To bring 
this upper class into co-operation with those who labour, 
and to lift up this lower class to an honest independence, 
and to cultivate the intellectual and social character of 
the whole, is the aim of the American Institute. This 
aim is in harmony with our civil institutions. It is wor- 
thy of philanthropists. It co-operates with the provi- 
dence and the word of that Father of us all, " who mak- 
eth his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and send- 
eth rain on the just and on the unjust." Therefore, by an 
easy transition, we pass to the other part of our subject. 

That these improvements in agriculture, manufac- 
tures, and commerce, are favourable to the moral 

AND RELIGIOUS IMPROVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE. 

The history of nations, but especially of free nations, 
tells us that all the interests of society must suflfer, where 
morals are corrupted and religion is dishonoured. It 
would ill become us to rejoice in any prosperity which 
is unfriendly to these vital interests of mankind. The 
shades of our ancestors would rebuke us ; and the curse 
of posterity would fall on our graves. And I approach 
this topic, aware of the responsibility it involves. 

Immorality and impiety may attach themselves to a 

4 



26 

very high or to a very low state of civiHzation. No re- 
Uance is to be placed, for moral and religious ends, on 
any, but the obvious and appropriate means. And all 
I propose to show, is, that the improvements, which we 
are considering, are friendly to the moral and religious 
improvement of the people. 

That the manners of society are cherished, purified, 
and elevated by these improvements, will scarcely be 
questioned. Where all things tend toward an equality 
of condition, and no class is independent of other clas- 
ses, we are in little danger from that false refinement of 
manners, which appears in aristocratic countries. All 
that we gain in manners is substantial gain. And what- 
ever cultivates a taste for the beautiful, or softens the 
social affections, or increases the facilities for generous 
actions, or brings us to the knowledge of good letters, 
goes directly to the account of good manners. 

But the manners of society are intimately allied to its 
morals. "Vice," said Sir Edmund Burke, "loses half its 
evil by losing all its grossness." Good manners are a 
discipline of the understanding and the heart ; and they 
restrain unnumbered acts and tendencies of immorality, 
which would prevail in a lower state of civilization. 
The equality of condition among our citizens, subjects 
every man to the observation, and every vicious man to 
he animadversion, of his neighbours ; and thus the state 
of our manners operates as a powerful restraint on im- 
morality. No man among us, except in the solitude of 
a great city, can openly violate the decorums of life, 
and avoid feeling the indignation of society. In the 
judgement of enlightened foreigners, our institutions and 
our condition are highly favourable to good morals. 

The opportunity which every man enjoys to improve 
his condition, naturally disposes him to be a moral man. 



27 

The labourer, who has laid up the wages of a single 
month, has something at stake on the institutions of the 
country. He begins to value his citizenship, and takes 
an interest in the public welfare. His self-respect grows 
with all his savings. Self-respect induces a respect for 
the opinions of other men. And he who at first assumes 
a virtue for the sake of appearances to others, may learn 
to practise that virtue for the satisfaction it yields. And 
I think it will be found, that where the physical condi- 
tion of society has been most improved, and its intel- 
lectual character most advanced, there the morals of the 
people have been cherished. But show me the little vil- 
lage where they are content with a low condition, where 
they neglect the improved methods of labour, and where 
they prefer idleness to prosperity ; and there it will be 
found, that they prefer the grog-shop to the school- 
house, and the justices court to the sanctuary. 

But the morality of a people has an intimate connec- 
tion with their respect for pure religion. The morality 
of a people will never be more exalted than their reli- 
gious opinions and sentiments ; and religion and morality 
are favoured by whatever favours intellectual elevation. 

It is a remarkable fact, that nearly all the nations on 
earth, who worship the one living and true God, are men 
of the Caucassian race, the race as much distinguished 
from all others by intellectual superiority and practical 
wisdom, as by the developement of their brain and the 
colour of their skin. And this race inhabit chiefly within 
the latitudes of Quebec and New-Orleans on both sides 
of the globe. 

In all true science, that is, in all true knowledge of 
the nature of things, their qualities, their changes, and 
their relations, we approximate toward the Maker of all 
things. It is the wisdom of a man to search out a mat- 



28 

ter. When Barrow was asked why he left the pulpit 
or the chair of mathematics in the University, he an- 
swered, " God is a geometer." 

Imperfections and mistakes in physical science have 
been a fruitful source of popular infidelity. The whole 
skeptical system of Monboddo was founded on the sup- 
position that man, by a series of fortunate changes has 
gradually risen from the race of brute animals ; a suppo- 
sition which Cuvier has demonstrated to be erroneous. 
For that greatest of comparative anatomists has proved 
beyond a doubt, that no living thing on earth ever passes 
from one distinct class to another ; but each continues 
after its own kind. 

The discoveries and observations in physical science 
have exploded numerous forms of popular infidelity. 
Physical science has, in modern times, been successfully 
applied to illustrate the being and attributes of the Deity. 
Tucker, in his " light of nature," laid the foundation on 
which Paley and Chalmers have built up the still grow- 
ing science of natural theology. And when the whole 
system of nature shall be searched out, and physical sci- 
ence rendered complete, the harmony of natural and re- 
vealed religion will be established ; and infidelity will find 
no resting place but in the closets of the doubting meta- 
physicians. There it will be nearly harmless, because 
the common people will never understand its language. 
While, therefore, the secrets of science are laid open 
to the farmer, the mechanic, and the merchant, in the 
improvements we enjoy, truth has a more easy access 
to the mind, and the truth of religion comes home to 
the business and the bosoms of men, as being a practical 
good, profitable for the life that now is, as well as for 
that which is to come. I have yet to learn, that pros- 
perity depending on regular and enlightened industry, 



29 

is in any way unfriendly to the sentiments or the beUef 
of religion. 

The discussion of this topic cannot now be prolong- 
ed. But I love to consult the auspices of our country, 
and collect the indications of her future career. I love 
to forecast the stability of her institutions, the m igni- 
tude of her resources, and the growing happiness of her 
swelling population. I love to rekindle in my own 
breast, the sacred fire of patriotism, and cherish its 
glowing anticipations. I love to dispel those fears, 
which accidental causes have awakened in minds, prone 
to extremes, and discouraged by passing misfortunes. 
Are you not weary of the croakings suggested by fluc- 
tuations in commerce, which were brought on by the 
excesses of paper money, and of foreign importations / 
Is the republic therefore to be despaired of? Trade 
and commerce will ever be liable to fluctuations ; but 
each successive wave will be smaller than the last. 
When a bubble of illegitimate trade has been inflated 
beyond its capacity and bursts, the mischief is great, 
but temporary : business gradually revives, but revives 
in new forms, under smaller profits, and closer compe- 
tition ; requiring increased caution, sagacity and indus- 
try ; and, to a large extent, it revives in new hands. The 
unfortunate look for its return in the old channels, and 
they often look in vain. But nature, constant to her 
own laws, suflfers no fluctuations. Seed-time and har- 
vest return in their due course. The earth teems with 
abundance. Greater numbers apply themselves to ag- 
riculture. Richer harvests wave over the fields. The 
productions of the earth call forth again the enterprise 
of the mechanic, and reward his labours. The grow- 
ing wealth of the country calls again for the labours of 
the merchant ; and again his prudent and sagacious in- 



30 

dustry gives him a moderate and safe accumulation of 
wealth. 

These revolutions in business are incidental to our 
country. They result from the proudest features of our 
institutions, and our character — from our freedom in 
action, our vigour in enterprise, and our easy confidence 
in each other. They are the excessive pulsations of a 
growing and youthful body ; and they give promise of a 
gigantic maturity. Experience will render them less 
frequent, and less injurious while they last ; but all that 
is valuable in the highest idea of home and of country 
will be left. Each new convulsion will teach us new 
lessons of political economy ; will throw us back on the 
sources of wealth within our own country ; and will 
teach us to cultivate the soil more perfectly, and to 
bring into use the geological and mineral resources of 
our own mountains and vallies. 

These pursuits will employ the science of the learn- 
ed, the skill of the ingenious, the labour of the diligent? 
and the capital of the enterprising. These must ever 
be the sources of our national wealth. The products 
of these pursuits must determine the measure of our 
commerce ; for our surplus production is all we can 
give in exchange for the productions of other countries. 
A wise regard to these pursuits must indicate the true 
course of our government for the protection and encour- 
agem nt of American ingenuity and industry. And it 
will be glory enough for any people to preserve the in- 
stitutions of our fathers, to develope the resources of 
our country, and to render it what it is destined to be- 
come, unless our want of virtue and patriotism shall pre- 
vent. 

Wiien I reflect on the probable destiny of our coun- 
try, my imagination can scarcely grasp the results of 



31 

sober calculation. Our territory extends across the 
continent, and through every degree of latitude adapted 
to a high civilization. Our soil is adapted to every pro- 
duction except a few articles of luxury and ornament ; 
and is capable of supporting a population greater than 
all Europe. We have iron, copper, lead, coal, marble, 
and granite, sufficient for the world, and easy of access. 
These sources of wealth are coming to light along with 
the improvements in their adaptation to the use of man* 
Every successive Fair of the American Institute exhibits 
a new collection of labour-saving machines, to which 
coal and iron can apply the power of steam, and make 
them our untiring, undying servants. 

These servants are cheaply fed, and wear no cloth- 
ing ; they have no period of infancy, or old age, to be 
provided for ; they raise no mutinies ; and they obey 
without the lash. We have not yet learned how many 
of these servants may be directed by one skilful hand. 
But allowing the progress of improvement to continue 
what it has been, during the last forty years, it is quite 
safe to predict, that before the population of this coun- 
try shall reach fifty millions, the machinery of the coun- 
try will be equal to the labour of five hundred millions. 
In other words, the productive industry of the country 
will be equal to the undivided labour of a population 
ten times as great as that to be provided for. The men 
are now living, who will see these grand results. The 
children are born, who will see the double of these re- 
sults. And how will this vast accumulation of wealth 
be applied? 

This is a question of vital interest. But the nature 
of the case suggests the answer which philanthropy de- 
sires to hear. 

The intellectual and moral character of the people 



32 

is to be sustained and advanced. The accumulation of 
wealth is to be made by the people, and remain in their 
hands. It will not be collected by hundreds of slaves for 
the luxury and pride of one master ; nor by hundreds of 
serfs for one lord; nor by thousands of subjects, to be 
lavished on the pomps and vices of royalty ; but the 
common wealth will be advanced. The industrious and 
virtuous of the people at large, will be better housed, 
better clothed, better fed, and better learned. The log 
cabin will give way to the tasteful and commodious 
dwelling. The deep forest will become a fruitful field. 
The desert will blossom as the rose. And I doubt not 
that humanity will be cherished, while learning and re- 
ligion will be patronized. 

I am aware that on these points, there are many fears 
indulged concerning the future growth of our country. 
De Tocqueville has suggested the fear that manufac- 
tures may become concentrated in a few hands, and thus 
lead to a new form of aristocracy, which will oppress 
the labouring class by reducing wages, and preventing 
education. But he takes no notice of the fact, that so 
long as good lands are cheap, and cultivation easy, hon- 
ourable, and profitable, it will not be possible to com- 
mand the labour of men at low prices. Nor has it yet 
appeared, that great manufactories have a tendency to 
restrain education. The schools at Lowell, and in the 
other great manufacturing districts of New-England, are 
of a hio;her order than the common schools of the rural 
districts ; and these schools are more uniformly attend- 
ed than the common schools. Experience has proved 
that it is cheaper to have schools and churches, than to 
live without them. In the manufactories of Rhode-Isl- 
and, there is certainly a higher state of education, than 
among the farmers of the same state. The proprietors 



33 

of these great establishments, to my knowledge, are the 
careful patrons of education and morals. They acton 
the principle, that it costs less to prevent vice, than to 
restrain it. The white steeple of the church, is the 
first object that meets the eye of the traveller in his ap- 
proach to a manufacturing village. To me, it seems 
obvious, that the danger apprehended cannot come upon 
us, until the constitution is abolished, and the founda- 
tions of democracy are broken up. 

But will not religion, science, literature, and the fine 
arts, languish for want of patronage and support ? 
This result is feared, and the fear is often expressed. 
An anxious concern on this subject is felt in our behalf 
on the other side of the ocean, especially by the church 
and state party in Great Britain. But what is the 
ground of this fear ? I have listened to all its sugges- 
tions and ill-bodings, and they may all be resolved into 
one short sentence — the people cannot be trusted. Well, 
if this is true, then the republic is to be despaired of; and 
our experiment of a free government, is to be a failure. 
But this is a denial of the very first article in our politi- 
cal creed. And who of us is prepared to make this de- 
nial ? If any, let him renounce his birth-right ; and let 
him retire and pray to Jupiter to send us down some 
log from the tree of legitimate sovereignty. True re- 
publicans are not prepared for this denial. The people 
can be trusted with the elective franchise ; they can be 
trusted for the support of religion, and the encourage- 
ment of science, letters, and the arts. 

The founders of our government made a novel ex- 
periment, when they left out of their plan any provision 
for the estabhshment and support of religion. They 
left this matter to the choice of the people. Thus far, 
our experience commends the wisdom of the plan : the 

5 



34 

people can be trusted; religion has gained power by 
gaining her liberty. 

Religion must be perfectly spontaneous, or it is not 
worthy of the name. Religion is not the production of 
priests, or philosophers, or rulers ; but pure religion 
produced both the priest, and the worshipper, by com- 
mending its own truth and goodness to the conscience 
of both. And it depends for its support on the con- 
science of civilized, enlightened man : there, it can trust 
securely ; and if it could not, I should be almost persua- 
ded to be an infidel. The history and the present state 
of our country give clear proof that the people of these 
United States are, and will be, the supporters of religion, 
I venture to assert, that according to our numbers, and 
our wealth, the people of the northern and middle states 
have expended more money on religious institutions in 
the last fifty years, than any other people on the globe. 

And now in regard to the patronage of science, let- 
ters, and arts. Cannot the people understand the value 
of these things ? Are they not daily tracing the im- 
provements of the plough, the saw, the mill, the lathe, 
the steam-engine, and all their labour-saving machines, 
back to the prmciples of pure science ? Are they not 
pleased with the grand and the beautiful in art ? Are 
not more copies of the best literature of England sold 
in America than in old England herself? 

The prospering class of men are ever disposed to be 
bountiful toward science and art. This truth is a prov- 
erb in all the world ; but it applies with double force in 
a country where there is no hereditary wealth ; where 
there is no place or use for princely fortunes, and where 
no man can find distinction so surely as by patronising 
the institutions of learning. 

The patronage of kings and nobles bestows on sci- 



35 

ence and art only a small part of what has first been 
taken from the people, while the people have no share 
in the honour. With us, the people who give, consider 
the institutions of science and art as their own. And 
this feeling of ownership, in the minds of the people, 
gives a sure pledge, that their own will not languish or 
be despised. 

When Stephen Girard looked around him for a mon- 
ument, he chose not the stately column, nor the tomb of 
Mausolus ; but he founded and endowed a college, 
where his memory will be forever cherished in the 
hearts of orphans, and of dying widows, who leave their 
sons behind them. May we not look for similar bene- 
factors among the men who are now making over- 
grown fortunes in our country ? 

But we are not left to conjecture as to what will be 
done for science, art, and letters, by the citizens of this 
republic. They have been acting on this subject, and 
acting with zeal and munificence. 

Let those who consider us wanting in this matter, 
remember that we are laying new foundations ; that we 
are building for posterity. Where a few years ago 
stood a forest or a sandbank, are now reared the lofty 
walls of Academies, Lyceums, Colleges, Libraries, and 
Universities. These buildinors are alike ornamental as 
specimens of architecture, and honourable to the fore- 
cast of their bold projectors. They indicate that we 
expect to be a great, and prosperous, and happy people. 
The Institution to which I am attached, has sprung 
up within a few years, at an expense of a quarter of a 
million ; and solely from the munificence of the citizens 
of New-York. I see in this audience, the men, who 
have given tens of thousands to this enterprise. And I 
verily believe, that the people of the United States have, 



36 

within thirty years past, appropriated more of their 
wealth to the cause of science, arts, and letters, than 
any other people of the same numbers and wealth, on 
the face of the earth. 

We have our full share of students and travellers 
abroad in the old world, collecting and bringing home 
whatever can enlarge or invigorate our course of 
learning, or add to the ornament of life. But these 
things must come gradually, and they must ever be sub- 
ordinate to the common interests and enjoyments of 
the people at large. We admire the arts of Europe ; 
we reverence the antiquities of Italy, Greece, and Egypt; 
but, at the price those arts and antiquities have cost, 
we desire them not. Freemen cannot afford to build 
pyramids, or temples, or monuments to the vanity ©f 
one man. If we imitate their architecture, it must be 
in buildings for public use. And that we can imitate it 
for this purpose, let the Custom-House, the Exchange, 
and the University be witnesses. 

But I trespass on your time, and dwell too long in 
repelling the fears which some entertain concerning the 
grand and glorious tendency of our country. 

I return to a rapid review of the train of thought we 
have pursued. 

If these improvements in agriculture, commerce, and 
the mechanical arts are meliorating the physical condi- 
tion of the people, elevating their intellectual and social 
character, and favouring their moral and religious cuL 
ture, — then, the inventors of machines and the impro- 
vers of the arts of life, may rejoice, that they are chief 
contributors to these results. Inventors are rarely stim- 
ulated by mercenary hopes ; they are rarely rewarded. 
I class them with statesmen, profound judges, great phi- 
losophers, and deep moralists, who live for mankind, 



37 

and expect their reward from future ages and other 
countries as well as their own. Their names will be 
recorded with those of Bacon, and Burke, and Hale, 
and Davy, and Bishop Butler. They will be more re- 
vered as man becomes more civilized. And ere long, 
their numbers and their deeds will claim for them a 
separate scroll, on which the American column, with 
Franklin at its head, will be long and full. With the 
single names of Fulton, and Whitney, and Evans, on 
our banner, we will not blush to face the world, and 
claim our place among those who have meliorated the 
condition of mankind. 

Next to inventors, those who patronise and co-operate 
with them may exult in the fruits of their labour. Liv- 
ingston will be longest remembered as the friend of 
Fulton ; and justly so : for it requires something of the 
sagacity of genius itself to foresee and encourage the 
triumph of genius. But the associated patronage of in- 
genious arts and labours is godlike action. It works 
on the character and condition of society like the hand 
of nature, which paints at the same moment on every 
flower of every field, and silently diffuses fragrance and 
beauty and fruitfulness over all the earth. My theme 
compels my eulogy to pause on the name of the Ameri- 
can Institute. The name is indicative of its character ; 
and its influence is coextensive with its name. 

Kindred to the leading thought of this hour, and re- 
sulting from it, is the hope, that human degradation, 
want, and suffering, will be gradually diminished. The 
road to the improvement of our condition is open to all 
sorts of men, and the access to it i^ easy. Machinery 
is gradually diminishing the use of human hands for 
degrading labour. The steam-engine is already super- 



38 



sediHg the sailor, the marine, the hod-hfter, and a thou- 
sand other dtudo^es. 

If there was a shadow of truth in that paradox of a 
profound southern statesman, that slavery is needful in 
a country of freemen, that shadow must fly away before 
the drudging power of steam and machinery. 

Already the New-England farmer and mechanic have 
their millions of iron horses and iron slaves. These can 
be multiphed without limit. And they are less costly? 
and more ingenious, and more to be trusted than sinews 
bought and sold. I speak not in reproach or exulta- 
tion ; but I would, if possible, call forth the genius and 
industry of the south, to the developement of resources 
which might make Virginia again what she was in the 
days of Washington and Madison, the key-stone, if not 
the empire state. 

The hours of this festival will soon be past. Its in- 
fluence will flow out to the borders of the land. May 
each succeeding year witness the enlargement and the 
growing influence of the fair of the American Institute 
on the minds and the fortunes of all classes in society. 




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OJfviM^Utace Htotn|i/ame6 j 
J am|Ui/let6, Hco-loi, t7 houyuilti), U)c. 0)c. 

xjnitr cnazaei linaH ve ai l/ic moit mooeictie 'Mtte6, <^/M:<f ^^s nature 
0^ Im vudine^d ivu^ autn6n<&e , icr caMv kcmineixb. 

HOPIONS & JENNINGS. 

July, 1840. 



m=r 



